Beata Stankiewicz, painting Room with Two Daybeds, 2017

Contemporary Art Gallery Warsaw Skowronscy Art - Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej – Artist: All the works of art – The Artist's Work – Room with Two Daybeds, 2017

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The painting is a striking example of a contemporary ‘interior portrait’, in which the artist transcends the boundaries of realism, imbuing an ordinary space with a sense of metaphysical unease. The monumental canvas depicts an austere attic room, framed within an almost symmetrical, rigorous compositional arrangement. The centrally placed window, the sole source of light, emits a cool, almost mystical glow that softly contours the texture of the bedding and the cast-iron radiator, only to give way to deep, impenetrable shadows at the edges of the painting. This technique creates a claustrophobic yet dreamlike atmosphere in which everyday life is elevated to the status of an object of contemplation.

Beata Stankiewicz’s work in this edition can be directly compared to that of Edward Hopper and Vilhelm Hammershøi. She shares with the American master of realism a treatment of light as the primary building block of drama, as well as a poignant sense of loneliness and alienation emanating from the empty furniture. In turn, the austerity of form, the sterility of the interior and the subdued palette of whites and greys constitute a clear dialogue with Hammershøi’s intimism. As with the Danish painter, the deserted room in Stankiewicz’s work ceases to be merely a backdrop for human activity, becoming an autonomous entity saturated with silence. By using local props – characteristic striped bedspreads or an old-fashioned radiator – the artist creates a universal record of the place’s memory, requiring the viewer’s attentiveness to perceive, within the still scene, the tension between an intimate refuge and an existential void.

Category: Painting

Artistic movement: Figurative art

Technique: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 170 cm x 240 cm

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Beata Stankiewicz – Room with Two Daybeds, 2017

Room with Two Daybeds by Beata Stankiewicz is a monumental oil painting from 2017 that may be read as a contemporary portrait of an interior. The artist depicts an austere attic room, devoid of human presence yet saturated with tension, memory and emotional weight. A banal everyday space is transformed into a site of contemplation — quiet, enclosed and unsettlingly metaphysical.

The composition is based on an almost symmetrical, rigorous arrangement. Two daybeds are placed on either side of the room, while the central axis of the image is marked by the window. It becomes the main source of light and the most important point of the painting. The cool glow entering the room does not fully dispel the darkness. On the contrary, it brings out the bedding, radiator, fragments of the floor and walls, while leaving the corners and sloping attic planes in deep shadow.

Light in this work has not only a formal, but also a dramatic function. It models the space, organises the composition and gives ordinary objects an almost symbolic intensity. The daybeds, radiator, window and empty walls cease to be merely elements of a functional interior. They become signs of a presence that has disappeared, and traces of everyday life suspended in stillness.

Beata Stankiewicz’s work in this painting may be compared to the achievements of Edward Hopper and Vilhelm Hammershøi. With Hopper, she shares an interest in light as a source of tension and a sense of loneliness emanating from empty space. As in the work of the American painter, the interior is not a neutral background, but a psychological stage in which silence carries dramatic weight. The austerity of form, muted palette of whites, greys and cool blues, and concentration on emptiness recall the intimate interiors of Hammershøi.

A crucial aspect of Stankiewicz’s painting is the tension between realism and dreamlike atmosphere. The room is recognisable and grounded in concrete detail: striped bedcovers, an old-fashioned radiator, sloping attic walls and a dark floor reflecting the light. At the same time, the handling of illumination, the softness of forms and the depth of shadows make the space appear almost like a dream or a memory. The real interior is elevated into an image of recollection.

Room with Two Daybeds may be read as a reflection on solitude, absence and the intimacy of place. The two beds suggest the possibility of relation, co-presence or shared inhabitation, yet their emptiness intensifies the sense of distance. The viewer is confronted with a space that seems to await someone’s return, while at the same time remaining in a state of irreversible abandonment.

Beata Stankiewicz’s work stands out through its monumental format, precise organisation of light and exceptional atmosphere of silence. It is figurative painting that moves beyond straightforward realism, constructing the interior as an autonomous presence — saturated with memory, unease and existential emptiness. From a collector’s perspective, the painting has strong visual impact and clear interpretive potential, combining local specificity with the universal experience of solitude.

Beata Stankiewicz
Room with Two Daybeds, 2017
Technique: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 170 × 240 cm
Category: painting
Art movement: figurative art